The hiatus: 70-150 A.D.---Why has no record of the past Second Advent come down to us in history ? We have first to remember the very remarkable and significant hiatus that occurs in early church history. The gospel of Mark was apparently left unfinished by the author; the last twelve verses having to be added by another hand. The narrative of the Acts of the Apostles ends abruptly, leaving us uncertain as to the fate of Paul and other prominent Christian workers. And indeed the annals of the Church, for nearly a century after the destruction of Jerusalem, are almost a. blank.

In the introduction to his " History of the Eastern Church," Dean Stanley thus characterises the transition from the Christianity of the New Testament, to that of the Apostolic Fathers :

"No other change equally momentous has ever since affected its fortunes, yet none. has ever been so silent and secret. The stream, in that most critical moment of its passage from the everlasting hills to the plain below, is lost to our view at the very point where we are most anxious to watch it. We may hear its struggles under the over-arching rocks ; we may catch its spray on the boughs that over-lap its course; but the torrent itself we see not, or see only by imperfect glimpses. It is not so much a period for ecclesiastical history as for there; romances of unknown authorship; a handful of letters of which the genuineness of every portion is contested inch by inch; the summary examination of a Roman magistrate; the pleadings of two or three Christian apologists; custom and opinions in the very act of change; last but not least, the faded paintings, the broken Sculptures, the rude epitaphs in the darkness of the catacombs; these are the scanty, though attractive materials out of which the likeness of the early church must be reproduced, as it was working it's way, in the literal sense of the word, 'under ground', under camp and palace, under senate and forum. This chasm once cleared, we find ourselves approaching the point where the story of the Church once more becomes history."

In his book "The Conquering Cross" (p. 41), Mr. Haweis, speaking of the period that immediately followed Nero's persecution of the Christians (64-68 A.D.), says:

"When the mist of blood and fire cleared from the spaces now occupied by St. Peter's and the 'Vatican, the two great apostles Peter and Paul have disappeared.......During the Neronian persecution Timothy has also vanished, and Barnabas the son of consolation no longer remains to write conciliatory homiletics for Jewish and Gentile Christians."

The following passage from a review of Renan's "St. Paul" in the "Edinburgh Review," April 1870, also emphasises the exceedingly fragmentary character of early Church History:

"This volume 'The Life of St. Paul,' takes us through the whole period of what we may call the ministry of the great apostle, embracing those all important fifteen or sixteen years (45-61 A.D.) during which his three missionary journeys were undertaken, and the infant Church, with four bold strides, advanced from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Ephesus, from Ephesus to Corinth, and from Corinth to Rome. Once arrived there, once securely planted in that central and commanding position, strange to say, the church with all its dramatic persons suddenly vanishes from our view. The densest clouds of obscurity immediately gather round its history, which our eager curiosity in vain attempts to penetrate. It is gone, amid a wreath of smoke, as completely as when a train plunges into a tunnel. The arrival of St. Paul at Rome marks for the history of the origin of Christianity the commencement of a profound night, illuminated only by the lurid fire of Nero's horrible festivities, and by the lightning flash of the Apocalypse. The history of St. Paul's life, and the history of the apostolic age, together abruptly end. Black darkness falls upon the scene ; and a grim and brooding silence-like the silence of impending storm, holds, in hushed expectation of the 'day of the Lord,' the awestruck breathless church."

The cause of the hiatus.-Whence comes this remarkable gap in early Church history ? It is natural to suppose that at the Lord's Advent the sudden and simultaneous passing away, throughout the world, of believers of the first rank would make a profound impression upon the Christians of a lower rank, who because of their unwatchfulness were left behind. There are those who maintain that this would at once have found a record in the annals of the Church. This is not quite certain, owing to the disturbed state of things that prevailed, and to the sudden withdrawal of the apostles. But granting that it was so, the fact remains that we have no church literature bearing date immediately after 70 A.D. If such literature ever existed, did it perish accidentally, or was it intentionally destroyed ? Various considerations render possible the latter alternative. Church literature bearing date immediately after 70 A.D. may have been still in existence in the second and third centuries or even later. In it may have been recorded the profound impression made upon the surviving church by the death of so many Christians in 70 A.D. In that case, knowing as we do the unworthy deeds of which, at various periods of the Christian era, priests and ecclesiastics have not infrequently proved themselves capable, it is no breach of charity to suppose that in the interests of priestcraft and ecclesiasticism the documents may have been suppressed by the dominant party in the church.

The predicted secrecy of the event.Beyond all question, there are also various indications to be found in the New Testament which prove that the Advent was to be an occurrence of a more private and restricted character than is generally supposed. Christ plainly told His sorrowing disciples that a period was coming, after He had ascended to the Father (John xvi. 17) when He would make Himself visible to them, but not to the world at large (John xiv. 19, 21). According to the parable of the Ten virgins (Matt. xxv. 1-13), the Lord's Advent was to have the secrecy of an Eastern wedding. The Bridegroom was to come not at midday, but at midnight, and not only the world at large but even the foolish virgins (that is, unwatchful and imperfectly sanctified believers) also were to miss the sight of Him. It was only to those believers who waited for Him that He was to appear a second time without sin unto Salvation. [1] Without holiness (that is, entire sanctification) no man within the Christian church [2] should see the Lord (Heb. xii. 14). Christ was to come like a thief in the night, [3] whose arrival is sudden and unlooked for, and perhaps unknown and unsuspected until after he has gone away again, carrying with him, it may be, a few most precious jewels, [4] Further, the words of the angels when they told the disciples that the Lord's return and descent from heaven was to resemble His departure and ascension (Acts i. 11) suggest that His second coming would not only be personal and visible, but also private and restricted to a limited number of individuals; even although within the circle of those personally concerned the prediction was realised that "every eye" should see Him (Rev. i. 7). The Transfiguration scene (Matt. xvii. ; Mark ix. ; Luke ix.) which prefigured the glories of the Second Advent, was hidden not only from the world, but also from the mass of Christ's disciples ; being vouchsafed only to Peter, James and John, the elect among the elect. Elijah's translation, between which and the translation of the saints an analogy might be anticipated, was secret and hidden from all but Elisha, although afterwards recorded (2 Kings ii). Taking the evidence as a whole, we need not be surprised if it should prove true that the Kingdom of God came not with observation" [5] (Luke xvii. 20). Thus when the Lord returned to fetch home to heaven His faithful servants, and to call to judgment the Jewish nation (that portion of humanity which was ripe for judgment), only those personally interested were cognisant of the occurrence. No one was permitted to be a mere outside spectator and reporter of that solemn and august interview between the Creator [6] and His creatures.

The necessary powers of perception.The credibility of the event having taken place, in spite of the silence of the historian, may be illustrated as follows:-Man's ordinary powers of perception do not exhaust the possibilities of the universe, nor even reveal to him all the realities immediately around him. At the time of death, for example, persons sometimes see unearthly sights and hear unearthly sounds. They thus for the first time become cognisant of certain objective realities around them, of which ordinary mortals have no discernment, and of which even surviving friends who are present at the moment have no direct personal knowledge. And in everyday life, also, some men from exceptional natural endowment or from superior training of their senses, see and hear much that entirely escapes the notice of others. The microscope, too, has revealed quite close at hand a world of marvels the existence of which was unsuspected before.

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